Newsletter and photo inspiration from photographer Jesper Anhede.

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Let me present to you the coolest house in the world and the perfect honeymoon getaway. This months newsletter will focus on a single place, the Manta Resort and the Manta Underwater Room located on Pemba Island, Zanzibar, Tanzania, Africa.

This place took most of my time last month. I was staying on this kickass three-storey underwater house trying to find the magic formula for the best shots. It was hard as hell but slowly we got what we wanted.

Enjoy!Ps. To see more photos check out http://anhede.se/?p=7278

Aerial photo of the Manta Resort and far out in the water the Manta Underwater Room.
Aerial photo of the Manta Underwater Room and Matthew relaxing in the water.
Trust me when I say that the water is clear. Super duper clear.
The best way to explain how a house both above and under water looks is to take a photo both above and under the water.
Louise taking a swim with the three resident batfish.
Honeymooners Hannah and Alex.
4 meters below the surface.
This is Nick, he is friendly and hangs around here all the time.
Squid swimming past the underwater room at night. An extremely fascinating animal.
Carina and Matthew enjoying the sunset in the lounge of the Underwater Room.
And then prepares for stargazing on the skydeck.
From land you can see the lights of the Underwater Room. It looks like a UFO has landed on the water under the Milky Way.
A couple of days ago the press release for the Manta Underwater Room was published and here are a few of the articles including my photos.

  1. CNN
  2. The Telegraph
  3. Condé Nast
  4. Huffington Post
  5. Daily Mail
  6. Travel MSN
  7. Sport Diver
  8. Easy viaggio
  9. psfk
  10. Gizmodo
  11. Huffington post, Italy
  12. Detik Travel
  13. Ourvac Vacation Spots
  14. Gessato
  15. Total Travel
  16. Iltalehti
  17. Flippies
This is how a beach should look like.
Not so very crowded.
I take that back, in some places it’s very crowded.
The Manta Underwater Room is not only a fantastic place but also a great story. If you ask me there is a story behind all of this that is much more important.

The Manta Resort is the driving force behind making Pemba a better place for local people. For example by building a school, a health center, an organic farm where the villages can buy vegetables at cost price, educating fishermen to avoid overfishing and even being involved in creating a reef conservation area.

“Pemba is still unexploited but the tipping point is near and the future of the island depends heavily on the impact that tourism will have. Tourism has only just begun influencing change here and it is our mission to contribute by sharing our culture we call “KWANINI”, meaning “WHY” in Swahili, the predominant language in East Africa. Through work with the local communities and workshops with the government and all stakeholders in the industry, we have articulated a vision for the future of Pemba and found common belief in this pursuit. It has brought everyone together and is now the driving force for our work, from the President, Vice Presidents and the Minister of Tourism through to all involved in education, health, environment, land, investors and local communities. When discussing the future we always pose the simple question “Why do we want tourism on Pemba Island”. You can imagine what transpires following this question and have held two workshops, the latest being last June 3rd and 4th 2013, based on the resounding success of the last one. The workshop/seminar is called “Kwanini Utalii Kwa Wote” which translated means “Why Tourism For All”. This has the potential of securing a brighter future for a the whole region.” /Matthew Saus, Managing Director at The Manta Limited

I hope someone reading this will write that story. If so I have the photos to back up the article. Check out www.themantaresort.com/kwanini-pemba for more info.

For more photos please check out http://anhede.se/case/destination-photographer-resort-photographer-pemba-island-zanzibar-tanzania-africa